Tag Archives: bolivar

by CigarCraig | January 3, 2016 · 10:57 am

Welcome to 2016 with Sobremesa, CAO, Bolivar and Joya de Nicaragua and Tops of 2015

It’s 2016 already! Â It’s hard to believe we’re now in the second half of the second decade of the 21st century! Hopefully everything remains status quo in the cigar industry with the pending FDA nonsense and all. Today wraps up an almost two-week vacation for me, I have to summon the will to get up and go to work tomorrow! But I managed to squeeze a lot of fun in that two weeks. Â My wife and I celebrated New Year’s by driving to Cleveland, OH to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame there. Â We got there Wednesday afternoon after driving all day, wandered into the casino around the corner from our hotel, and it smelled funny. I expect casinos to have a smokey aroma, and this one smelled clean. Â Very strange, apparently Ohio has a pretty strict indoor smoking law, so we didn’t spend very long there. It was damned cold there too, so smoking a cigar outside wasn’t happening either. Â Luckily, on the way back from visiting the Hall of Fame, which was great, although it seems like the singers and guitar players get all the glory, very few drum sets on display, we visited Cousins Cigars. Â This shop had a smoking area, was ringed with cabinet humidors, and had a very nice classic selection. I picked up some of the new Bolivars and lit one up, and it was very good. Â Is still don’t care for the bands, but the cigar is right up my alley, rich, dark and full flavored. It was a great way to end 2015, and the gentlemen in the lounge were very friendly and welcoming, and Sam, the shopkeeper was excellent as well. Â I’d say this is a place to visit if you find yourself in Cleveland.

My first couple cigars of 2016 were pretty great. I started off with a Sobremesa El Americano Friday after driving home, mostly through snow. Â As I’ve come to expect, this is a complex and delicious cigar with subtle and nuanced flavors. Â Definitely a special occasion cigar. I still want to try theÂ Robusto Largo size, but so far this is my favorite of the sizes I’ve tried. Yesterday I took a nice walk with a CAO Flathead Steel Horse Apehanger, ironically, the subject of the last giveaway of 2015, the winner of which will be announced in a bit. I really like the Flathead line in general, and I like what they did changing the wrapper from the Connecticut Broadleaf on the box pressed line, to a Connecticut Habano Oscuro on the round Steel Horse line. I Â can’t imagine whoever wins these will be unhappy as they are a really good smoke to my palate. I still can’t figure out why the Steel Horse line extension isn’t listed on their website though, yet the fact that the 660 Carb was Cigar Aficionados number 3 is noted (as it should be). Â I finished off the day with a Joya de Nicaragua Cuatro Cinco Reserva Especial Toro. This cigar was released at last year’s IPCPR show, a tweaked version of the 2013 Cuatro Cinco that celebrated the companies 45 year anniversary. I guess Cuatro Siete was awkward. To me, this is reminiscent of the AntaÃ±o Dark Corojo with the rough edges knocked off. Its much more refined and smooth. Â This is another great smoke to wrap up the New Years holiday.

While everyone else in the blogosphere is posting their lists of favorite cigars of the year, It was a very weird year for me, and with everything that went on for me personally, I will continue my tradition of not making a list. It gets easier every year not to make a list! Â There were a lot of great cigars, and everyone’s palate is different. Kudos to everyone else for putting forth the effort to complete these lists. Â For me, once again the important thing is the interaction with the readers. I resolve to do a better job of responding to the comments here, I appreciate every one of them and will do better at following up. Â So my top five list is my loyal commentors:

Somehow Dan missed Â commenting on 28 posts this year, as I hit an even 100 posts in 2015. So there’s your goal for 2016, make the list! I really do appreciate everyone reading along with my nonsense, thank you!

On the contest results! This one actually got more entries than any of the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways this year. Maybe I need to rethink the way I do the December contests! Â I have a few months to think about it. Â The random number generator gave me 38, which corresponds to Bob Langmaid!Â Please send me your address Bob! Hopefully you’ll share some of these with the other Langmaids I’ve seen entries from in contests over the years! Â 🙂 Â Once again, many thanks to Victoria at General Cigar Co. for sending this great box along to give away, and to Ricky Rodriguez and Ed McKenna at CAO for making great cigars. Please don’t expect another contest for a while, I’m all giveaway’d out!

That’s it for today! Â I’ve got a Prime Living article due this week that I have to finish up this week, and some Christmas cleanup yet to do around the house, and a lot of “last day of vacation” stuff to get to, including taking a nice cigar for a long walk! Â Until the next time,

CigarCraig

19 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review, Stores

Tagged as bolivar, CAO, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Contest, Cousins, Flathead, joya de nicaragua, Sobremasa

by CigarCraig | September 13, 2015 · 8:27 am

A Gurkha, a 1502, New Bolivar and Ramon Allones Cigars

Thursday I dug into the sampler pack that Gurkha gave me at the trade show, and came out of it with the newest addition to their Cellar Reserve line, the 12 year aged Platinum in the 6″ x 58 Hedonism size. This is a nice perfecto shaped cigar with a Ecuador Oscuro wrapper (and I can’t guess what actual varietal that might be, couple be a Connecticut fermented to a dark color, or something else…hard to tell). The band boasts a “blend strength” of 98%, again, not sure what that means as it was a perfect medium in strength to my palate. It also has a Nicaraguan binder and 12 year old fillers from Esteli, Congega and Jalapa in Nicaragua. It’s made in the Dominican Republic. Aside from all the marketing buzzwords and vague information on the blend, what I found it to be was a very good tasting cigar. It was creamy and smooth and quite nice. There was no shortage of flavor, it was by no means mild, and was probably my second favorite of the four blends in the Cellar Reserve line, second to the maduro Limitada with the Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper. I owe the Edicion Especial with the Corojo wrapper another shot as I smoked one in New Orleans outside in hot, soupy weather and it wasn’t the best representation of that cigar I don’t think. There are quite a few Gurkha cigars I like, and this happens to be one of them.

Friday I wrapped up the work week with a 1502 Black Gold toro that I had in the humidor for a couple years. This has always been my favorite in the 1502 range, it’s got a deep, dark maduro wrapper that I want to say is San Andrés from Mexico if I recall. I like the way the wrapper leaf is folded around the foot off the cigar on all the lines, it’s a nice touch, and you get a little bit more wrapper flavor on the light. It has to add cost to the process though. Anyway, it was 1502 owner Enrique Sanchez’ birthday Friday, so I thought it seemed appropriate to smoke one of his cigars. I had some trouble keeping this one lit for some reason, but it has the dark and dirty black coffee and earth flavor that I really like. All of the 1502 cigars are great smokes, this one, when it burns right, is always a favorite. Oddly, when I smoked the 1502 line in the Lancero size last year, I think the Emerald was my favorite, and the same with the coronas. Maybe the flavor I really like from the Black Gold wrapper needs to be tempered by more filler, too much of a good thing, you know.

As usual, when I toured General Cigar‘s booth at the IPCPR show, I had no idea what to expect from their Foundry division. I knew that Sam Leccia was working under that umbrella, but one never can tell what’s going on in the creative mind of Michael Giannini. I was surprised to find that his latest project was the re-imagining of the Bolivar and Ramon Allones brands. I sparked up the Bolivar first in the 550 size. This has an unfinished foot and a curly-q pigtail cap, and is a nice, dark cigar. As is the custom with Foundry, all we know about the blend is that it’s six country blend. If I had to guess, I’d say this has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, based on the delicious and lush espresso/cocoa flavor. As you might guess, I really liked this cigar, it had the dark, bitter flavors I like, with a hint of sweetness. It burned perfectly and that uncut foot gave a huge blast of wrapper flavor on the light. The box art is pretty sharp, featuring images of the bands that Bolivar has used over the one hundred or so years it’s been on the market. I am not over fond of the bands on the cigars, though, I am afraid it makes the cigar look like an inexpensive bundle instead of the fine premium cigar that it is.

The Ramon Allones 550 shares the same sizes as the Bolivar line, but is a Nicaraguan puro, and that’s all the information available on the blend. The presentation follows the same theme as well, with the Ramon Allones having a blue band where the Bolivar has red. I will never forget the first Cuban Ramon Allones I ever smoked, a “Specially Selected” robusto back in the late ’90s. This cigar was so peppery that I could still feel the tingle on my tongue the next day. I’ve had others since and never had that much pepper, but still enjoyed the cigars. The new version Michael Giannini has put together has none of that. Once again, the uncut foot showcases the dark Nicaraguan wrapper upon lighting, and it’s a blast of what I can only associate with sourdough bread. The sourdough flavor persisted throughout the cigar. Again, the construction was perfect, and it burned and drew great. I have to say, I would lean toward the Bolivar if I had to choose between the two, I’m not a fan of the sour flavors, but there are those who are, and the Ramon Allones is a very good choice if that is your preference. I look forward to trying both of these in the other sizes to see how they differ. Again, I’d like to see a classier band, but that’s just me, there’s no denying that they will stand out on the shelf.

One thing I’ve noticed as I’m writing this article is that companies are still slow to update their websites to reflect the new releases. It’s now almost two months after the IPCPR show where some of these cigars were released and the only information I can find are on media sites. I should think that should be a priority in 2015, and it’s not that difficult to expensive to do, like the old days when they would have to re-print a catalog or something. It’s just something that continues to befuddle me. On another note, since my wife is going to be selling books at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention near Baltimore this weekend, I am going to be looking for cigar shops to waste time in. The Humidour in Cockeysville, MD is first on the list, but if anyone is in the area please let me know, I will be down there Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That’s enough from me, until the next time,

CigarCraig

5 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as 1502, bolivar, cigar, cigars, Foundry, General Cigar Co., Gurkha, IPCPR, Ramone Allones

by CigarCraig | July 8, 2012 · 8:18 am

4th of July Cigars, an Oliva, a La Gloria, and Hoyo De Monterrey Reposados Contest No.2

As I mentioned in my previous post, the 4th of July was my 25th wedding anniversary, so special cigars were in order. I have a humidor that my wife had custom made for me for our 10th anniversary in which I keep a selection of “special cigars”, some Opus X and Ashton VSG, a couple of specially rolled cigars that I can’t see ever smoking, and a handful of Havanas collected over the years. It’s my custom to select from this humidor on my anniversary. I selected an old favorite, a Bolivar Belicosos Finos for my first celebratory smoke. I know what you’re thinking, this is usually a breakfast cigar! OK, that’s an old joke most won’t get. The Belicosos Finos, or BBF, or Boli Beli, has a reputation as a strong cigar. The Havana Bolivar line has long been a favorite of mine, but more for the interesting flavors than the strength. I once had a Coronas Gigantes that tasted line cinnamon, the first and only time I remember tasting that in a cigar. Anyway, this Boli Beli was enjoyed after a dinner out with my wife for our anniversary. It had been in my humidor over a year, and I have no idea how old it was when it came into my possession, but I suspect that it would have been ready to go. I can see that this cigar would have been fine if I had waited several more years to smoke it, but it hit the spot. I will say that every Cuban cigar I have smoked over the last few years really proves the point that cigars from the rest of the cigar producing countries have caught up and in many ways surpassed Cuba. There still remains a flavor, a “twang”, if you will, that sets Havana cigars apart from the rest. An awesome cigar to celebrate a wonderful day.

We can watch our town’s fireworks from our front porch, which is preferable to battling the crowds in my opinion. Sure, there are some trees obscuring the view of some of the lower altitude fireworks, but it’s still nice to be at home for the show. I went back to the anniversary humidor and selected a little Ashton Virgin Sungrown Tres Mystique for the show. This cigar has been in that humidor for well over 5 years, I honestly can’t remember where it came from, certainly in a trade or something like that. It’s a 4 3/8 x 44 petit corona with a beautiful dark brown wrapper that glistens with oil. I have to describe the smoke as lush and meaty, like a great steak. I wish it had been a little longer, as I had to put it down before the show ended. That’s OK, it was a stellar cigar, worthy of the moment. I forgot to snap a photo of it before I lit it up, so the photo here is from Ashton’s website (which will explain it’s superior quality!).

Thursday, after a delicious sausage, peppers and pasta dinner made by my wife, and a relaxing swim in the pool, I came home and dug out an Oliva Serie G Belicoso and took the dog for a walk. The last natural version of this cigar let me down a little, but this one had Camerooniness all over the place! It burned well and tasted great. I don’t think I would have wanted to smoke this in the pool, the wrapper is a little too delicate for that, but it was perfect for relaxing after. Nice cigar and quite reasonably priced.

Friday evening I had La Gloria Cubaba Serie N on my mind, and dug out the last one from over a year ago, a 5½” x 54 JSB. I love the dark, oily wrapper on these, and I’ll never forget getting to see the “N” being painstakingly applied in the factory when I visited. They have a punch, like a paper punch, that punches the “N”s out of light colored leaves. The “N”s are all over the benches and the poor ladies have to carefully apply them just right on the cigar. It’s a neat touch that sets this cigar apart from the rest. Another thing that sets it apart are the rich and dark flavors. This cigar is darned tasty! It’s dark maduro Ecuador Sumatra wrapper is delicious, but mine didn’t want to stay light as well as I’d like. Still, a nice smoke, I’d buy a box in a heartbeat (and the box is way cool too).

Contest!

Once again, it’s contest time! I have another two (2) three-packs of Hoyo de Monterrey Reposados en Cedros cigars for one reader who leaves a comment on this post. I got a timely response from last week’s winner, Allen, and his cigars will be heading out to his duty station where ever that may be next week. So, leave a comment, tell your friends, win some cigars courtesy of our friends at General Cigars. If you haven’t already, head over to HoyodeMonterreycigar.com and enter to win a box of these. They are giving a box away every day through the end of the month! (note: There is still the CAO Last Stick Standing contest going on at lss.caocigars.com too!) Please note, the prize is the two 3-packs. The photo here has a display representing of the special “Inmersion” process used to age these cigars, not part of the prize.

That’s all I have for now! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

29 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review

Tagged as Ashton, BBF, bolivar, cigar, cigars, Contest, general cigars, hoyo de monterrey, JSB, La Gloria Cubana, oliva, VSG

by CigarCraig | August 31, 2011 · 10:52 pm

Mid-Week Cigars: Cain, Bolivar, San Lotano and Some News

It was a good thing I finished my Sunday post on Saturday and scheduled it for Sunday morning, because Hurricane Irene brushed past us and knocked our power out for about 40 hours or so. We were luckier than some, of course, we only lost a couple quarts of ice cream and had a little water in the basement. No damage and just a minor inconvenience. We take out electricity for granted, don’t we. I’m glad we have gas hot water and stove, and a French press. I did manage to smoke a few cigars so far this week:

Cain Maduro 660 – Picked this up a few weeks ago at Top Shelf Cigars in Skippack, PA for just under $5 on closeout. I should have left this rest for a while longer, but it called to me…you know how it is…I’d been hearing hurriCAIN all weekend, been without electricity for 20 hours and needed some POWER. My past experience with the Cain line has been that I love the flavor, but they tend to knock be on my ass with the strength. I like a strong cigar as much as the next guy, but I smoke to relax, not to feel queezy and want to barf. In my mind, these feelings detract from the experience. This one was good, it could have had a better draw, odd for a 60 ring cigar, but it was pretty hefty in the hand. I have one left that I’ll try to ignore for a while, plus a couple of habano torps.

Bolivar Royal Corona – Last year on my birthday I decided to try selecting a cigar with a ring gauge to match my age, I turned 47, so a Havana Churchill was in order. I couldn’t find a 48 ring cigar in my humidors, was out of anything in the Hermosa vitola, so I abandoned that tradition and went with a Bolivar Royal Corona. I selected this because I love Bolivars and wanted to smoke something special on my 48th birthday. It was not a bad choice, I loved it, it had a few years of age on it and burned nicely. It had that typical Havana twang to it that I love from time to time. With the over-all quality of Nicaraguan/Honduran/Dominican cigars being so high recently, the Havana cigar remains distinctive, maybe not “better” but different. Bolivars have a flavor that hits me just right, and this one was a very nice way to celebrate another journey around the sun.

San Lotano Oval – This one was a sample from the IPCPR show, although I just received another pair of them from Clay Roberts of AJ Fernandez. I think I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve smoked from AJ Fernandez, the Emilio AF1 and 2, and the Diesel Unholy Cocktail, although this is a small sampling of the many cigars this gentleman has had a hand in making. The first thing you notice about this aptly named cigar is the shape, take a guess… OK, I’ll tell you, it’s oval. I love the shape, it has a very natural mouth feel, and is still round, yet doesn’t roll off the table. Very creative presentation. I liked the cigar, I consider it medium, with a very nice, savory and satisfying flavor. This is another cigar I smoked well below the band. Here’s a video I shot at the show with AJ talking about the Oval line:

That’s about all I have for now. I think I’ll have a contest starting Sunday, so check back then.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under IPCPR, Review, Video

Tagged as aj fernandez, bolivar, cain, cigar, cigars, havana, IPCPR, oval, san lotano

by CigarCraig | June 1, 2011 · 6:22 pm

Guest Take a Cigar for a Walk Review: DB Takes a Bolivar for a “Mow”!

Here’s a great twist on “Take a Cigar For A Walk” by our favorite serviceman, DB Dronnoff. I always love when I read about, or see, someone enjoying a high end cigar while doing something so mundane as mowing the lawn! We have our “yard ‘gars”, but why not enjoy a killer smoke while doing something that may be considered boring or routine! So, without further ado, here’s DB:

After reading many of Craig’s Cigar Walk reviews I thought it was time to get off my @$& and submit a review myself. This time I decided instead of just a walk I would also do something constructive (Honey-do’s) like mowing the grass. So here goes my “Take a cigar on a mow” submital.

It was a unusually sunny day here in the Suffolk region of the UK, and my grass had started to get out of control. Before I cranked up my trusty mower, I reached into my humidor and pulled out a cigar I have been dying to sample. A Bolivar Libertadores Exclusivo Francia that was gifted to me by a fellow BOTL from France. The Bolivar Petit Libertador is a 2008 France regional edition and comes in at 4” (102mm) by 50, making it a petit robusto.

After several pulls on the mover cord and a a test run, I lite up this little powerhouse for what I was assured would be a great experience. This cigar has the classic Bolivar band, with a second band which reads Exclusivo Francia. Immediately at the start I detected a creamy taste that ended up extending about halfway through this 4″ cigar. Midway through my mow and about halfway into the cigar a light citrus zestiness started and ended up continuing until the end of the cigar. This surprising flavor makes it a wonderful summer smoke when you don’t want anything too heavy…Like mowing your yard.

The burn of this cigar was quite even despite smoking it outside walking around. I have found that in these cases the shifting winds tend to force the cigar to burn uneven. That didn’t happen to the Bolivar, maybe it was just luck. The ash was a light solid texture mixed with peppery flakes. It never really had a chance to grow longer than 1.5″ due to my marching up and down the yard pushing the mower.

I soon finished my mowing task and retired to a chair out back to finish enjoying this fine cigar…without working up a sweat. Bottom line: Apart from being a gorgeous looking cigar, the Bolivar Libertadores is an amazing smoke, with a light citrus zestiness throughout.

Another day in beautiful England is now comming to an end. If your looking for a cigar to enjoy during your next mowing experience, enjoy it with the Bolivar Exclusivo Francia.

Aim High,

USAFCigar

Thanks again to DB for the excellent report on what most of us consider a very special cigar! As for myself, I had a fine Memorial day at the Delaware Park racetrack watching the ponies and enjoying a Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Robusto. This line extension is one of my favorite cigars lately. No matter what size, they always deliver a nice smoking experience all the way around. I do need to get my hands on more of the Lanceros though. It was awfully fun watching them being rolled in the factory!

After we got home, I decided on a short smoke, an El Titan de Bronze Hemingway. This little Cameroon wrapped perfecto had been sitting in the humidor since August of 2008 when I got it at the IPCPR show. I’ve had a few of them many years ago and was never really impressed, but this one was a gem! If they changed something over the years, it was for the better in my opinion. Great little cigar. Sadly, as I research this a little, I don’t see this size listed on the webpage. It was a 4″ x 46ish perfecto, not unlike a Fuente Short Story.